Witte Klavervier is real Dutch beerIn the Hanseatic town of Zwolle, the Netherlands the old Witte Klavervier brewery was reopened early 2011. One goal of the brewery is to bring assertive Dutch craft beers to the public. Another is to spread knowledge of the old brewing history of the Dutch. A third is to promote the reestablishment of the old brewing infrastructure of old in the form of hop gardens and the local production of brewing malts.

Micro maltingFor true Dutch beer we need a micro-malting, this goal is approaching fast and we will be opening the KiemKracht micro-malthouse combined with a brewery in Bad Nieuweschans the Netherlands in the course of 2018. A monumental 19th century station for steam locomotives in what is called the Grain Republic will be our base from now on.

VLB certified maltsterOver the past years we have done tests with malting and collected knowledge about malting in a very broad sense. Recently we did an in-depth course on malting at the Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin (VLB) and are now certified maltster.

The beerOur beers are all about the brewing history of the Netherlands where hopped beers were made since early 14th century. Our Koyt was awarded 'Best Koyt of the Netherlands' and our other beers also don't fit into present-day beer-styles. Behind every beer there is a terrific amount of research and they were not made to resemble other beers, but to stand out and make a unique statement of character.

Researching beer historyI researched the mysterious and evasive gruit, grutt or grout. Apart from an old tax on beer it was a substance that was actually used for brewing. An article about this research was published by the Brewery History Society which you can find here together with an extended source page chronological ordered.My friend Leen Alberts found an amazing series of Liege beer recipes in a 17th century notebook. To supplement that we collected sources on Liege beer covering three centuries. Out of this combined effort a completely new insight is dawning about this distinctive beer-style that was made predominantly with spelt. Please read about it in the history of Liege beer.

Workshop beerhistoryThe rapid increasing knowledge and changing insights on the history of Low-Countries beer are a beautiful subject for a presentation, workshop or master-class anywhere in the world. Lectures are in English and sometimes accompanied by a historic beer. Maybe this will fit your event too; ask for possibilities through the contact page.

CNBCampaign for Netherlands beer-styles (Campagne Nederlandse Bierstijlen) or CNB in short. CNB is an initiative meant to generate an awareness of the almost forgotten Dutch beer history and beer styles. Read more.